Do we need a reason to do good? When it comes to giving our help to people who need it, do we need a reason? Isn’t the mere fact that they need help enough reason to make us lend a hand? Can we all just help people without thinking of getting something in return?
I’ve thought about this countless times, and I’ve always come to the same inevitable conclusion, many of us are not really good because of selfless reasons, we have something we believe that we’d stand to gain by being good. Even if it’s not in this world, at least in the world to come. And yeah, I’m speaking of Heaven.
Now, there are people who do good simply because it’s the right thing to do, and then there are those who do it because they don’t want to miss their ticket to heaven. For the latter, this means that the people they’re helping out don’t matter at all, and they would only do what they have to do as long as they believe it’ll get them to the promised land.
But then, is that good enough? In a way, I see it as a selfish move. It’s just like you giving gifts to an orphanage so you can score points with the media and trick them into buying more of your products. But this time around, it’s on a much grander scale. Being good simply because you don’t want to go to hell is not nice. It doesn’t feel nice even thinking about it.
If we’re going to be good, then we should be good for goodness sake. Anything worth doing is worth doing well, and if you don’t feel it from your heart, then what’s the point? I’m sure I’m not the only one who thinks this way, but the heart and mind behind an act can determine just how we’d enjoy the act.
When a gift is given to us, if we know that the gift came from a place of love and it came from the heart, we’d appreciate it more. It won’t matter how expensive or cheap it is, the thought behind it will be all that would matter. But then, it’ll be a totally different scenario if you can sense that the person doesn’t want to do it. Nothing worse than that feeling you get that someone is doing something only because they have no other choice.
If someone gives you $1k, and they look like they’re genuinely happy with you, you’ll love their gift. But if they give you $100k, and then you realize that they are only using you as a PR move, and the “gift” holds no meaning behind them at all, it’ll change how you’ll react to it. Yeah, you might still hold on to the gift, but let’s be honest, it’ll still leave a bitter taste in your mouth.
That is how it is when we do good only because we want to go to Heaven. Does it mean that if Heaven was taken out of the equation, then none of us would be good? What if Hell was taken out as well? Would we all become terrible individuals?
I guess this is something we all need to ponder over. Are we doing good because it’s the right thing to do, and because it’s ethical? Or, are we doing good simply because we want to make it to heaven? Our answer to that question will tell us all we want to know about who we really are.
